21 000 vehicles stopped in Gauteng blitz

2011-09-04 17:42

Johannesburg - Over 21 000 vehicles were stopped and checked by
police over the weekend as part of the transport department's national
rolling enforcement plan, aimed at promoting safety on South African
roads, said a department spokesperson on Sunday.

Transport ministry spokesperson Logan Maistry said police officers
were out in "full force" following Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele's
instruction last week that "every bus and taxi on South Africa's roads
must be stopped and checked".

Maistry said that as part of the NREP, September would be dedicated to public transport enforcement.

"The
safety of commuters is paramount and all public transport vehicles will
be monitored closely by transport authorities," he said.

At
least 76 people were killed in August in eight separate crashes
involving public transport vehicles in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, the
Free State and the Western and Eastern Capes, he said.

From
October 2010, the NREP programme has seen almost 12 million vehicles and
drivers checked by traffic officials, and almost 5 million fines issued
for various traffic offences.

Nearly 18 000 drunk drivers were arrested and 46 843 unroadworthy vehicles were discontinued from use in the same period.

Comments

KK - 2011-09-04 18:25

Does this have anything to do with the 10 000 fines that each cop has to write out monthly? (http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/jmpd-aims-to-rake-in-r20m-1.1116950?ot=inmsa.ArticlePrintPageLayout.ot)

Valis - 2011-09-04 18:37

Obviously it does. It is much easier to sit on your fat ass at a roadblock than to actually go out on patrol and catching people in the act of breaking the law.

tryanything - 2011-09-05 18:53

The cops can sit at the corner of Lower park drive and Jan Smuts between 5am and 8am And ticket red light runners they will make a killing..

Macho Mike - 2011-09-04 19:35

Good news in my opinion. Eiah but i can't helping thinking that maybe this has also been bonus time for some of the cops, as i'm sure some money would have changed hands somewhere in all of this.

Steven - 2011-09-05 09:51

Agreed. Those who paid the bribes are the reason for the cops being as corrupt as they are. I was stopped 3 x on Friday and on each occation I was asked for a "donation". I said no. If I did the crime then write the fine. When asking for the cop's name I got told to move along....

WCD - 2011-09-05 09:37

The worst organised sting ever. There were no traffic management. Then they closed the highway, delaying 1000's of cars because there was a bush fire - pathetic bunch of tax cowboys

John Galt - 2011-09-05 11:06

Good that all taxis and buses should be checked. One wonders whether the Road accident fund is not depleted due to the carnage caused by the bad driving and poorly maintained of the taxis and buses.

tryanything - 2011-09-05 18:49

I got stopped for having an unroadworthy vehicle, I drove away without being fined and without paying a bribe...the same must be happening with the taxis and buses (my number plate had fallen off and my side mirror was broken thats all but I shouldnt be on the road with anything wrong), the guy was too lazy to write the ticket.

Andrea - 2011-09-15 09:08

what about stopping the trucks? some of them look very dicey.

Jan - 2011-09-15 10:03

And how much was taken in bribes

yyxx - 2011-09-15 10:13

yay and nay. I got pulled over, provided my licence. Everything was in order. Sure cop, do your job. But then, my entire car gets searched (without reason which is blatantly illegal). How can I tell someone the law when they are pointing an R4 at me? Whose guidance are they acting under when they perform such illegal actions?